As a native Russian speaker, you are used to pronouncing sounds more heavily than Americans do. American English sounds tend to be light and pronounced more quietly.

The following is a description of the sounds most typically accented by Russian speakers, how you may be saying them, and examples of how these accented sounds sound to Americans in words. Please review this section before you begin practicing any of the sounds included in this self-study book.

Section 1: Sounds which may make the biggest difference in your accent: Mastering the following sounds may have the biggest impact on your spoken English skills.

1. The “t” and “d” sounds are pronounced with the tongue too far forward in the mouthThe “t” and “d” sounds are pronounced with the tongue too far forward. The “t” and “d” sounds belong to what we call the “stop sounds.” This is because you begin these sounds by holding your breath, and then you must stop the air and voice after you say them.

If you are having difficulty pronouncing the “t” and “d” in American English, it is most likely because your tongue is flat and too far forward in your mouth. This makes the t” sounds like “d” and creates a distorted “d.”

To form the “d” sound

Open your mouth slightly

Place the tip of your tongue behind your upper front teeth, but not touching them.

Place the tip of your tongue just behind your upper front teeth, but not touching them

Hold your breath

Push out air in a little explosion. You must hear a little puff of air in order for this

sound to be pronounced correctly. Without the puff of air, the “t” will sound like “d.”

The “d” sound at the ends of words is sometimes pronounced like “t” or omitted. If you are pronouncing the final “d” like “t”, it means that you are not using your voice when you should. In addition, whenever a word ends with “d” or any voiced consonant, you must prolong the vowel that comes just before it a little bit. This helps the “d” sound appear more voiced.

When the “d” sounds like “t” at the ends of words:The word “bad” will sound like “batThe word “had” will sound like hat”The word “lead” will sound like “let”

If you are omitting the “d” sound at the ends of words, this will also affect your ability to be understood by others.

When final “d” is omittedThe word “paid” will sound like “pay”The word “made” will sound like “may”The word “red” will sound like “reh”

2. The “v” sound is often pronounced like “w” and the “w” like “v”Many people who speak English as a second language have difficulty pronouncing these two sounds. If you are having difficulty pronouncing the “v” sound, you are most likely pronouncing it like “w.” If you are having difficulty pronouncing the “w” sound, you are most likely pronouncing it like “v.”

If you can remember the lip position for these two sounds, it will help tremendously: Make a tight circle for the “w” and keep your lips flat for “v.”

Let’s take a look at how to pronounce each sound.To form the “v” sound

Keep your lips flat, like a smile

Relax your upper lip and make sure you can see your teeth

Lightly place your upper front teeth on your lower lip. You don’t need to cover your lip, as long as they are touching.

Push your voice through the tiny space between your teeth and lips so that you hear friction when you say it.

The “v” sound is a member of the continuant sounds, which means you must prolong it to say it correctly

When the “v” sounds like “w”:The word “vet” will sound like “wet”The word “over” will sound like “oh-wer”The word “very” will sound like “werry”

The “w” sound is a member of what we call the “glide sounds” because your tongue moves or glides to the next sound.

To form the “w” sound:

Make a tight circle with your lips, pushing them in front of your front teeth

When you begin this sound, it is almost like saying “oo” and then relaxing your lips

Use your voice to say this sound, but do not push air out at the same time, as this will create friction and sound like the “v” sound.

When the “w” sounds like “v”:The word “we” will sound like “vee”The word “away” will sound like “uh-vay”The word “when” will sound like “ven”

3. The “p” sound is often pronounced like “b”The “p” and “b” sounds are members of what we call the “stop sounds” and are formed in exactly the same way, except for voicing: the “p” does not use your voice, while the “b” does.

If you are having difficulty forming the “p” sound, you are most likely using your voice when you shouldn’t. To form the “p” sound

Place your lips together and hold your breath.

Push air out of your mouth in a little explosion. You must hear a little puff of air when you say the “p” sound. If you don’t, then you are saying the “b” sound.

When the “p” sounds like “b”The word “pat” will sound like “bat.”The word “pen” will sound like “ben.”The word “please” will sound like “blease”

4. The “k” sound is pronounced like “g”The “k” and “g” sounds belong to the group of sounds called the “stop” sounds and are formed in exactly the same way, except for what we call “voicing”: the “k” sound does not use your voice, while the “g” sound does.

If you are pronouncing the “k” sound like “g”, it means that you are using your voice to say the sound, rather than pushing air only.

To form the “k” sound

Open your mouth

Place the back of your tongue gently against the back of your mouth

Hold your breath briefly

Push air out of your mouth in a little explosion.

If “k” sounds like “g”The word “coat” will sound like “goat.”The word “cat” will sound like “gat.”The word “cap” will sound like “gap.”

5.The voiced “th” sound is usually pronounced like “d”The “th” sound may be very challenging for you to pronounce. Right now, what you might be doing is pronouncing it like the “d” sound. Basically, this means that you are keeping your tongue inside your mouth, rather than sticking it out, and you are holding your breath and stopping your voice, rather than keeping the sound going.

To form the voiced “th” sound:

Stick your tongue out of your mouth slightly

Let your upper front teeth rest lightly on your tongue

Push your voice out through the tiny space between your upper front teeth and tongue

Keep your tongue and teeth lightly touching while you are pushing out the sound. If you hold your breath or separate your tongue and teeth, you will not be pronouncing the “th” correctly

You should feel your tongue vibrate when you say this sound

If you pronounce the voiced “th” like “d”The word “the” will sound like “duh.”The word “another” will sound like “uh-nuh-der”The word “breathe” will sound like “breed”

6. The unvoiced “th” sound is usually pronounced like “t” or “s”The unvoiced “th” and the voiced “th” sounds both belong to the groups of consonants called the “continuant” sounds are formed in exactly the same way, with the exception of voicing. The voiced “th” uses your voice, while the unvoiced “th” does not.

While most Russian speakers pronounce the unvoiced “th” like “t”, there are some that pronounce it like “s.” Here are the differences:

If you are pronouncing it like “t”, it means that you are keeping your tongue inside your mouth and holding your breath before you push air out

If you are pronouncing it like “s”, it means that you keeping your tongue inside your mouth and continuing the sound.

To form the unvoiced “th” sound

Stick out your tongue slightly

Let your upper front teeth rest very lightly on your tongue

Keep your tongue and teeth together while you push air out through the front of your mouth.

Make sure you continue or prolong this sound. You will not feel your tongue vibrate for this sound because you do not use your voice.

When the unvoiced “th” sounds like “t”The word “think” will sound like “tink.”The word “something” will sound like “some-ting.”The word “north” will sound like “nort”

When the unvoiced “th” sounds like “s”The word “think” will sound like “sink”The word “something” will sound like “some-sing”The word “north” will sound like “norse”

7. The “r” sound is usually rolledThis is probably the most frequently used sound in American English. It occurs as a consonant, a vowel, and is present in lots of consonant blends, so it may very well be the sound that affects your accent the most.

When the “r” is rolled it is pronounced with the tip of the tongue lightly touching the roof of the mouth just behind the upper front teeth. In addition, the lips are flat and relaxed. If the tongue tip hits the roof of the mouth once, it is called “rolling”. If the tongue tip hits the roof of the mouth several times, it is called “trilling.” This is quite different from how it is pronounced in American English.

To form the American English “r” consonant sound:

Round your lips

Feel your lower jaw move slightly forward. This will happen automatically when you make a circle with your lips.

Curl the tip of your tongue up toward the roof of your mouth, but do not let it touch anything.

Because the rolled “r” is so different from the “r” in American English, it can be distracting to most Americans. This means that they will need more time to translate the rolled “r” into an American “r”, which might slow down their ability to understand your speech. Because the “r” occurs so frequently in English, it is a very important sound to learn and master.

As a consonant, the “r” can occur at the beginning of a word, such as in the word “red” and in the middle of the word, as in “around.”

When the “r” occurs as a vowel, it is formed in the same way as the consonant “r”, except the tongue is slightly more relaxed. Right now you are most likely rolling the “r” when it occurs as a vowel, just as you roll it when it occurs as a consonant.

The vowel “r” can occur as a stressed syllable, such as in the word “bird”, or as an unstressed syllable, as in the word “mother.”

8.The “ih” sound sometimes sounds like “ee” and the “ee” sounds like “ih”The “ih” and “ee” sounds belong to what we call the “front vowels” because they use the front part of the tongue to form them.

The main differences between the “ih” and “ee” sounds are as follows:1. For “ih”, the tongue stays relaxed, but for “ee” it is tense.2. For “ih”, relax your lips in a slight smile, but for “ee” make a wider smile3. For “ih” your tongue should be about half way up inside your mouth, but for “ee” it is high in your mouth.

To form the “ih” sound

Open your mouth so that your teeth are about an inch apart and your lips are flat in a slight smile

Your tongue should be relaxed

Place your tongue about half way up inside your mouth

The tip of your tongue should be just behind your lower front teeth. You can actually place the tip of your tongue on the back of your bottom teeth.

As you say the “ih” sound, you will feel the front and middle of your tongue raise up slightly and then go back down.

The “y” at the end of words, which should say “ee” is usually pronounced like “ih”When this occurs,The word “happy” will sound like “happ-ihThe word “really” will sound like “real-lih”The word “jumpy” will sound like “jump-ih”

9. The “ae” sound is often distortedThe “ae” sound belongs to what we called the “front vowels” because it uses the front part of the tongue to form it.

Most Russian speakers tend to put a “yuh” sound just before the “ae”. If you are having difficulty pronouncing the “ae” sound correctly, this is most likely what you are doing.

What this means is that you are placing the front and middle part of your tongue too high in your mouth, saying “yuh” and then the “ae” sound. You will be working on keeping the front and middle of your tongue lower in your mouth to eliminate this extra sound.

When “ae” is distortedThe word “cat” will sound like “kyat”The word “happy” will sound like “hyappy”The word “sat” will sound like “syat”

10. The “eh” sound is often distortedThe “eh” sound belongs to the group of vowels called the “front vowels” because it uses the front part of the tongue to form it.

If you are having difficulty pronouncing this sound correctly, you are most likely adding “yuh” before it. This means that you are raising the front and middle of your tongue too high in your mouth before saying “eh”. The result is an extra sound. You will be working on eliminating the extra “yuh”.

When “eh” is distortedThe word “bed” will sound like “byed”The word “kept” will sound like “kyept”The word “said’ will sound like “syaid”

11. The “u” as in “put” is often pronounced like “oo” The “u” and “oo” sounds are both members of the “back vowels” because they use the back part of the tongue to form them. There are some major differences, however.

1. Your tongue and lips are relaxed for “u” and are tense for “oo”2. Your lips should be in a slight circle for “u” and a tight circle for “oo”To form the “u” sound

Form a slight circle while your mouth stays relaxed

The back of your tongue should raise up slightly and should also stay relaxed.

When “u” sounds like “oo”The word “should” will sound like “shoed”The word “bush” will sound like “boosh”The word “took” will sound like “two-k”

12.The “oh” is sometimes pronounced like “aw” and the “aw” like “oh”Many speakers have difficulty proncouncing the “aw” and “oh” sounds correctly in English. These sounds both belong to the same group of vowels called the “back vowels” because they use the back part of the tongue to form them, but they do have distinct differences.

The following are the main differences between “aw” and “oh”:

Your tongue and lips are relaxed for “aw” and tense for “oh”

Your lips should form an open circle, almost like an oval for “aw”, where it ends with a tight circle for “oh”

The back of the tongue should be slightly raised for “aw” and raised high in the back of the mouth for “oh”

To form the “oh” sound:

Place your lips in an open circle

Tense your tongue and raise the back of it high in the back of your mouth

The front part of your tongue should be low in the front of your mouth

Move your lips into a tight circle as you say the “oh” sound

Finish the “oh” almost like an “oo” sound

When “oh” sounds like “aw”:The word “open” will sound like “aw-pen”The word “notice” will sound like “naw-tiss”The word “won’t” will sound like “want”

To form the “aw” sound:

Place your lips in an open circle, so that it resembles an oval. This means that your mouth will be in more of an oval shape.

Raise the back of your tongue up slightly in your mouth, and keep the tip of your tongue down below your lower front teeth

When “aw” sounds like “oh”The word “often” will sound like “oh-fen”The word “cost” will sound like “coast”The word “bought” will sound like “boat”

Section 2: Other sounds to practice:The following sounds may be mispronounced, but will not have as significant an impact on your ability to be understood. These sounds include the following:

13. The “h” sound may be distortedIn American English the “h” sound is formed by breathing out lightly. The back of the tongue should be low enough to open up the throat and allow enough air to pass by.

If you are having difficulty pronouncing this sound, you are most likely raising the back of your tongue causing it to rub against the back of your throat. This creates what is referred to as a “guttural sound.”

When the “h” is distorted:The word “he” may sound something like “he”The word “happy” may sound something like “happy”The word “who” may sound something like “who”

14.The “ng” sound often has an added “g” or “k” after itYou are most likely pronouncing the “ng” in the middle and at the ends of words with an extra “g” or “k” after it. In American English, we do not pronounce the “g”, even though it is one of the letters that you see for the “ng” sound. This is the only change you will be making in this sound.

To form the “ng” sound

Open your mouth and place the back of your tongue against the back of your throat.

As you say the sound, gently release your tongue without holding your breath. This is the key for this sound, as right now you are holding your breath and then forcing the “g” out when you say “ng”. This extra “g” sound is what we want to eliminate.

If you pronounce the “ng” sound with an added “g”:The word “singer” will sound like “sing-ger”The word “calling” will sound like “calling-g"The word “walking” will sound like “walking-g”

If you pronounce the “ng” sound with an added “k”:The word “singer: will sound like “sinker”The word “calling” will sound like “calling-k”The word “walking” will sound like “walking-k”

15. The “g”sound at the ends of words may sound like “k”The “g” and “k” sounds belong to the same group of sounds called the “stop sounds.” They are formed exactly the same, except the “g” uses your voice, while the “k” doesn’t. If you are mispronouncing “g” like “k” at the end of words, it means you are not using your voice when you should.

Stretching out the vowel that comes just before the final “g” will make this sound appear more voiced, even if it really isn’t.

To form the “g” sound:

Push the back of your tongue against the back of your throat

Hold your breath

Push out your voice in a little explosion.

When the final “g” sounds like “k”:The word “bag” will sound like “back”The word “dog” will sound like “dock”The word “leg” will sound like “leck”

16. The “l” sound is pronounced with the tongue too far back in the mouthIf you are having difficulty pronouncing the “l” sound, it is most likely because you are placing the tip of your tongue too far back in your mouth. You may also be curling it back in your mouth.

To form the “l” sound:

Flatten the tip of your tongue and place it directly in back of your upper front teeth

Do not curl your tongue back in your mouth

Once your tongue is in place, say the sound with your voice and then gently push your tongue off the roof of your mouth so it sounds like “luh.”

The “l” sound should be light and only with the tip of the tongue

17.The “z” sound in the middle and at the ends of words may sometimes sound like “s”The “s” and “z” sounds belong to the family of consonants called the “continuant sounds” and are formed in exactly the same way, except the “s” does not use your voice, while the “z” does.

If you are having difficulty pronouncing the “z” sound in the middle and at the end of words, you are most likely not using your voice when you should.

To form the “z” sound:

Smile and keep your teeth close together

Place the tip and front of your tongue flat and very close to the roof of your mouth, just behind your upper front teeth

As you say the “z” sound, use your voice to make this sound like a buzzing sound

If the “z” sounds like “s”:The word “busy” will sound like “bissy”The word “was” will sound like “wuss”The word “president” will sound like “press-ident”

18. The “dg” sound may sound like “ch”The “dg” sound belongs to the group of consonants called the “affricate” sounds. It is actually made up of two sounds: the “d” and “zh.” If you are having difficulty pronouncing this sound, you are most likely not using your voice when you should.To form the “dg” sound:

Place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth, just as you would for “d”

Round your lips: this is very important! Do not keep your lips flat

Tense your tongue and make sure you can feel the sides of your tongue pressing against your upper side teeth. The middle of your tongue should form a groove.

Push out your voice in a little explosion

When “dg” sounds like “ch": The word “jump” will sound like “chump”The word “bridge” will sound like “britch”The word “badge” will sound like “batch”

19.The “b” at the end of words may sound like “p”If you are pronouncing the “b” at the ends of words like “p”, it means that you are not using your voice when you should.

The “b” and “p” sounds belong to the group of consonant sounds called “stop sounds.” They are formed in exactly the same way, except the “b” uses your voice, while the “p” doesn’t.

Consonants at the end of words in English are often pronounced quietly. To help maintain voicing for the “b” sound, stretch or prolong the vowel that comes just before it. For example, in the word “cab”, I stretch out the “ae” just before the final “b.” If I say the “ae” quickly, “cab” sounds more like “cap.”

If the “b” sounds like “p” at the end of wordsThe word “tab” will sound like “tap”The word “cub” will sound like “cup”The word “stab” will sound like “stap”